TL@W Peer Leaders Take on Excessive Heat, the Gig Economy, and Racial Justice

MassCOSH is very proud of the 22 young people who graduated from our Teens Lead @ Work summer programs on August 12. During their six weeks as paid staff, these young people learned about workers’ rights and led trainings for their peers across Boston about young workers’ rights and how to stay safe on the job. MassCOSH is especially proud of Jaleah Clark and Haley Alphonse who graduated high school this spring and will be attending college in the fall. Jaleah is headed to UMass Boston and Haley will be attending Northeastern University.  

 

TL@W peer leaders worked on teams to learn about and work on projects to address climate resilience and heat stress, the gig economy, and racial justice. The gig economy team met with workers fighting for their rights and against efforts to misclassify them as independent contractors. They also met with the Attorney General Office’s Fair Labor Division to hear about their important lawsuit on this issue. The racial justice team launched a new Instagram profile Solidarity Across Boston to share what they’ve learned and help other teens join the conversation. The climate resiliency team met with City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo and Chief of Environment, Energy, and Open Space for the City of Boston, Mariama White-Hammond, about dangerous heat in Boston Public Schools. They took this time to discuss TL@W’s campaign to win "no test days" when the heat index is too high for young people to take important tests that determine their academic success.  

 

Before graduating, peer leaders shared their work in an online meeting that was broadcast live on Facebook. To hear more about their experiences this summer and their projects and campaigns in the teens’ own words, watch their presentations on Facebook here.